In a reprise of a plan decisively rejected by the Texas Legislature last session, a coalition of conservative public policy advocacy and lobby groups, including the Texas Tea Party is once again calling for consolidation of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs with the nonprofit corporation, the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC). [...]
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Tag Archives: Housing policy
Out of Reach: The Housing Wage in Context
March 15, 2012
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Reblogged from On the Home Front: Yesterday, NLIHC released Out of Reach 2012: America’s Forgotten Housing Crisis. This report highlights the gap between wages renters actually earn, and what they would need to earn to afford the rent and utilities for a modest two-bedroom apartment in their state. As a part of our release, we held [...]
Read more HUD plays Grinch with its poorest tenants
February 17, 2012
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A single mother with two children in Texas is potentially eligible to receive $260 per month from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). She might be able to get Food Stamps to help feed the kids. But the $260 per month has to cover the other living expenses. There is basically no option except to [...]
Read more Dallas fumbles in the absence of a housing policy
January 18, 2012
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Housing segregation is a problem most Texas communities struggle with. Crippled by a lack of political courage and leadership no city seems to struggle more than Dallas, often with serious consequences. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) ran a front page story Sunday about a dispute between the backers of two proposed Low Income Housing Tax [...]
Read more DMN editorial says paper will push housing in 2012
January 8, 2012
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An editorial in today’s Dallas Morning News says the paper will editorially push two housing issues on the editorial pages in 2012. A monitoring of nonprofits to replace dilapidated housing and revitalize neighborhoods. A look into tax-credit housing — how the process goes awry and the impact that such housing concentration has in southern Dallas. [...]
Read more HUD’s Ron Sims discusses something Austin officials will not — homeownership and race
July 21, 2011
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For a years I worked with State Representative Eddie Rodriguez (Austin) to help him devise a way to let lower-income families of color maintain a presence in East Austin in the light of escalating property values and taxes. So far the effort has not succeeded. A key problem has been the opposition of a few African-American [...]
Read more HUD Secretary Donovan’s letter to PHAs about accepting ex-offenders
July 20, 2011
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I commented earlier on HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan‘s letter to public housing authorities asking them to reconsider their policies on admission to public housing by ex-offenders. In my opinion, the letter is carefully constructed to send the proper message. It does not order PHAs to change their policies but reminds local PHAs that they have [...]
Read more HUD: Ex-inmates need help to stay off streets in Houston | Houston Chronicle
July 20, 2011
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The Houston Chronicle ran a thoughtful story today about the difficult problem facing people coming out of jail trying to find a place to stay. My comments in the story are not intended as excusing the actions of people who break the law, but I believe that it does little good to release people into [...]
Read more Preview of new HUD GIS mapping tool shows promise and potential
July 20, 2011
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You have to hand it to the CPD staff of HUD. They are doing some really interesting and useful things these days to make HUD funds more effective. For example, HUD officials recently demonstrated the capabilities of a new GIS on-line mapping tool for community groups and government officials in the Rio Grande Valley. It [...]
Read more Austin case study: Postdisaster housing policy and low-income survivors
July 19, 2011
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Several very smart people from the University of Texas and myself just had a paper published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research entitled, “Looking for Home after Katrina: Postdisaster Housing Policy and Low-Income Survivors”. The authors are TxLIHIS Board member and UT Community and Regional Planning Department faculty member Dr. Elizabeth J. Mueller, [...]
Read more Where Texas border housing and community development issues stand after the legislative session
July 17, 2011
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Earlier this week I spoke to the National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders about developments during the last session of the Texas Legislature that impacted colonias. These are my prepared remarks. The situation faced by those of us who work on affordable housing and community development issues along the Texas Mexico border can be [...]
Read more Listening to Congress debate housing is a sobering experience
July 16, 2011
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Every now and then it is worth listening in on Congressional debate on housing legislation. Not that it is usually profound or a good way to understand the details of what the legislation would actually do, but it is a way to see how members of Congress frame their arguments to appeal to their constituents. [...]
Read moreUS House Subcommittee Votes to Eliminate Housing Trust Fund — Rooflines
July 14, 2011
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A House subcommittee voted to stamp out the National Housing Trust Fund this week, signaling a very difficult road ahead for fund advocates. Of course, the fund, a flagship objective of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, has never actually been capitalized, and this latest development could prolong the three-year effort to support the fund—the [...]
Read more TX Tribune story may lead to a misdiagnosis of colonia conditions and health problems
July 10, 2011
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The second of a two-part Texas Tribune story on the colonias that ran today on the Tribune’s website and in the New York Times has me worried. Reporter Emily Ramshaw illuminates the terrible health problems faced by colonia residents. Unfortunately, the story also is likely to leave many in the dark. The story does not make [...]
Read more What really impedes progress in Texas colonias?
July 8, 2011
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A story in today’s Texas Tribune and the Texas edition of the New York Times presents a sad and confused picture of the problems facing impoverished colonia homeowners. Amid a number of self-congratulatory statements from well-meaning government officials here is one that stands out, ”…being in public service, you have to learn the system, and be patient.” [...]
Read more Great new research tool: ESRI’s Community Analyst mapping site
July 4, 2011
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I’m not given to promoting commercial products on this blog, but I’m going to make an exception for the new on-line mapping tool by Esri called Community Analyst. I am excited about this planning and policy tool. If you want to see what it can do, watch this video. Here is how Esri describes their [...]
Read more Sadly, how far we have strayed from this great moral course
June 11, 2011
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We built this Nation to serve its people. We do not intend to live in the midst of abundance, isolated from neighbors and nature, confined by blighted cities and bleak suburbs, stunted by a poverty of learning and an emptiness of leisure. The Great Society asks not how much, but how good; not only how [...]
Read more74% of those with “worst case housing need” have extremely low incomes according to HUD report
June 14, 2010
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HUD has published it’s latest assessment of the households that have a “Worst Case Housing Need”. The key findings are: 93% (5.48 million) experienced severe rent burden; 73% (4.33 million) had extremely low incomes; 37% (2.19 million) had at least one child under 18. Nearly half of these were working the equivalent of full-time and [...]
Read moreGovernment housing programs can and do help the poorest families in Texas
July 20, 2009
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I blogged last week about the need for housing programs to recognize the housing needs of families well below 30 percent of the area median income and suggested a new category of housing need called “below poverty income.” In response I received a question this morning that I thought deserved to be answered here. The [...]
Read moreA culture of greed tarnishes the Texas Low Income Housing Tax Credit program
July 16, 2009
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The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program in Texas is sometimes more about the developers making money building housing and less about the needs of people who need housing. Evidence of this fact can be found in the ongoing public corruption trial of housing tax credit developers and elected officials in the Dallas federal district court. [...]
Read moreThe case for a new category of housing need — below poverty income
July 15, 2009
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I have made myself an annoyance to many in the for-profit housing development industry by my constant insistence that housing funded with public resources be created that is affordable to families with incomes at 30% of the area median family income. Recently, I attended a meeting on the uses of the Texas Housing Trust Fund [...]
Read moreFinal recap of all housing related bills we followed in the Texas Legislature
July 6, 2009
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I previously blogged about the fate of bills considered by the past session of the Texas Legislature that pertained to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). But, there were many more bills that related to the housing of lower income Texans that did not impact TDHCA. Here is a complete round-up of [...]
Read moreWhy was the leader of a failed Texas housing nonprofit a major political contributor to Texas officials?
July 2, 2009
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Steve Sterquell, the one-time head of the now bankrupt Amarillo, Texas nonprofit affordable housing corporation American Housing Foundation, gave out nearly $370,000 to Texas elected officials over eight years according to the Amarillo Globe-News. This made Sterquell number 65 on the 2006 list of Texas campaign contributors according to Texans for Public Justice, a campaign [...]
Read moreTexans worried about their economic condition, housing concerns high on list
June 25, 2009
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A new public opinion poll found that 37 percent Texans say their family’s economic situation is worse than one year ago and only slightly more than half are “very confident” that they can pay the rent or mortgage. The Third Annual Texas Lyceum Poll, conducted from June 5th-June 12th, 2009, focused on Texans’ attitudes on [...]
Read moreGovernor Perry vetos three affordable housing bills
June 19, 2009
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Texas Governor Rick Perry has vetoed three affordable housing bills passed by the Texas Legislature. HB 3983 by Rep. Rodriguez (D-Austin) and Sen. Watson (D-Austin) – Relating to the imposition of property taxes on the residential homesteads of low-income and moderate-income persons. The bill makes technical changes to the Homestead Preservation District law, passed by [...]
Read moreAddressing low-income families’ housing aspirations is essential to financial reform
June 19, 2009
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You don’t have to work long in the field of affordable housing to find out how strong the desire is among many low income families to own a home. “How to I get a loan to buy a house,” is one of the most frequent questions I get asked. Often the question comes from people [...]
Read moreThe Nouveau Poor foreclosure crisis slights the poor
June 18, 2009
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You can’t help these days being struck by the amount of government and media attention heaped on the plight of people facing home foreclosure. I Googled “housing counseling” to see what advice was available to a low income person about finding subsidized rental housing. I had to search through several pages of listings of home [...]
Read moreRoundup of housing related bill action affecting TDHCA by the Texas Legislature
June 14, 2009
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I am finally getting around to compiling the list of all the bills that passed and those that did not in the recent session of the Texas Legislature. In today’s post are the bills that affected TDHCA. First is a list of those that passed, followed by those that were filed but did not pass. [...]
Read moreGalveston Long Term Recovery Plan should focus on what it takes to allow survivors to return home
June 12, 2009
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Lots of hard work has gone into the production of the Galveston Long Term Recovery Plan. The citizens behind this work are to be commended for their efforts. I carefully reviewed the housing portions of the plan and offer the following constructive criticisms. Unfortunately, as a blueprint for the reconstruction of housing, the plan falls far [...]
Read moreI thought pigs would fly first, but landlord and tenant advocates work together
June 6, 2009
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A strange, good thing came about in Texas in landlord tenant relations during this session of the Texas Legislature. After decades of fighting, tenant advocates and the apartment industry representatives successfully cooperated to make important improvements in landlord-tenant law. SB 1448 by Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) and Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) is the case in [...]
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Bo McCarver’s housing news clips for May
- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
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Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
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Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
